Credit for Life Fair a Huge Success!

January 31, 2018jacobs

Last Friday, the students in the senior class were treated to a dose of reality at the first Credit for Life Fair at the Perley School. Business and Technology teacher Mary Lyon wrote a grant to host the Fair and received the funding to sponsor this terrific day of learning about the realities of financial planning and management. Mrs. Lyons and her colleague Lisa Ryer worked with a planning team made up of business leaders and parents to plan the details of the day. I can not say enough about the work that was done by these two teachers to make this vision a reality. The amount of hours on their own time to coordinate this event was extraordinary and i am quite sure this will be an event that the students will always remember because it provided a dose of reality at a time in their life when they are getting ready to venture out on their own.

Students were provided with a salary that they would make for the year and assigned a credit rating which was important as they moved from station to station. Each station gave the students the chance to make financial decisions. They had the chance to consider how to account for things such as housing, insurance, cable and phone, travel, nutrition, personal care and one of the most popular and scary aspects of the day was when they had to face the Reality Check Wheel which was also referred to as the “ Wheel of Misfortune “. They had to spin the wheel which listed such things as broke a leg, pay extra taxes, get in a car crash and your rent was increased. For each of these possible events, there was a financial consequence that was not planned for and ,depending on other choices the students made, the consequences varied. For example, if the student landed on broke a leg and they had not purchased insurance, they had to deduct $2000 from their budget. Others figured out that spending money on a vacation was more difficult than they thought after paying their other bills. Students seemed very engaged and most students said it was an eye-opening experience for them.

This event would not have been possible without the help many vendors and volunteers who staffed tables and assisted students in making decisions. Again, we are so fortunate in Georgetown to have so many people who are willing to help our students and our schools! It never ceases to amaze me that anytime a request is made, there are people ready and willing to help. We are so grateful.

I want to thank Maggie Van Galen from the Georgetown Record for the great article she wrote. I have attached so check it out.